Heidelberg Engineering UK celebrates 10-year anniversary

Heidelberg Engineering UK has celebrated its 10-year anniversary, looking back over a decade of installing diagnostic imaging instruments and delivering education. 

The company celebrated the milestone on 17 August. Highlighting the “bright” future ahead, Heidelberg Engineering UK hinted that customers “can look forward to several exciting product launches which will introduce novel technologies that enhance the clinicians’ diagnostic capabilities with improved image capture.”

The company launched as a direct subsidiary of Heidelberg Engineering in 2011, with a team selected by Krysten Williams, head of global marketing and education at Heidelberg Engineering.

Reflecting on this time, Williams – who is now based at the global headquarters in Germany – said that she had been tasked with assembling a ‘dream team’ of experts “to focus on raising the standard of multi-modal imaging through education,” an approach expected to create demand for the company’s imaging solutions.

“The goal was to empower clinicians to improve patient care. It was this fundamental principle and the power of the Heidelberg Engineering brand that appealed and continues to appeal to an amazing team of experts who love imaging and have an unswerving duty of care to patients,” Williams added.

The first Spectralis device sold by the Heidelberg Engineering UK team was purchased by Michael Raines, consultant ophthalmologist, and first installed in 2012 at The Lancashire Eye Clinic in Lytham St Annes.

The device is still in regular use and has seen numerous upgrades, with Raines commenting that it has served the clinic and patients “superbly” through the years, adding: “I don’t know how we ever managed without it.”

The company suggested that hundreds of Spectralis instruments have been installed in the UK since, with a device in “nearly every NHS department throughout the country.”

Several new products have been released in the past 10 years, including the MultiColour module for Spectralis in 2012, followed by an additional eight imaging modules in subsequent years.

The launch of Heyex 2, a new ophthalmic image management software solution, came in 2017, followed by the launch of a new imaging platform, Anterion, in 2019, which opened new markets for the company in cataract and refractive surgery, as well as cornea and glaucoma diagnostics.

Heidelberg Engineering Academy was founded in 2012, with the company suggesting it was the first diagnostic imaging company in the country to offer CET-accredited educational peer discussion roadshow events for optometrists and dispensing opticians on optical coherence tomography interpretation. Since its launch, the company has submitted 12107 CET points to the General Optical Council.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Academy moved its education delivery online, with 29 free webinars delivered to over 3000 unique participants since April 2020.

Emily Malbon, head of UK marketing and education for Heidelberg Engineering, said: “Every person who works at Heidelberg Engineering is genuinely passionate about eye health care and works diligently to improve the standard of knowledge and education in diagnostic imaging among eye care professionals. The ultimate goal is saving people’s vision.”

Considering the future, Tosh Vadhia, general manager for Heidelberg Engineering, said the company is “always looking for innovative ways of scanning and diagnosing ophthalmic conditions and managing the data seamlessly, so that clinicians can decide on patient treatments more effectively.”

“Heidelberg Engineering will continue to strive to be at the forefront of diagnostic imaging technology,” Vadhia continued, adding that the company looks forward to serving its customers “into the next decade and beyond.”